BRAND new Ferrari at half-price online? What a deal!

But you had better think twice if you want to get the 2004 out-of-production 360 Modena priced at US$30,000 ($41,000).

According to Ferrari spokeswoman Mariella Mengozzi, the current suggested retail price by Italy's consumer auto magazine for a 2004 model is around $150,000.

On Thursday, Italian financial police found a new height of craftsmanship and cunning when they broke up a ring selling fake Ferrari cars for a fraction of the real price.

According to The Daily Mail, investigators said the buyers, who were mainly businessmen and entrepreneurs, were aware the cars were imitations rather than the genuine item.

NOT RELIABLE

General Francesco Carofiglio, from Italy's Customs and Excise fraud squad, who led the operation, said: "What needs to be underlined is the risk of injury. The knock-off cars were not reliable.

"The sales were being made on the Internet and we monitored online car sales sites to keep an eye on where these fake cars were going.

"The buyers were mainly businessmen or industrialists who were fully aware they were fake but could not afford or did not want to pay the genuine prices.

"They were selling dozens each month and making millions of Euro a year. It was a very well run Mafia operation."
Car body workers, who police called "very able", used body parts, such as chassis, roofs, hoods, trunks and doors, from other makes of automobiles.

The ring used mostly Pontiacs as the base, but also Mercedes and Toyotas, building a copy of a Ferrari body over the original car's engine.

The body parts were modified to look like Ferrari classics such as the 328 Gtb, which went out of production in the late 1980s.

Some of the cars sold for about 20,000 euros ($42,000), about a 10th of the going price for some versions.

Police confiscated 21 cars, 14 of which had already been sold, and seven in production in Sicilian garages.

Eight people are under investigation, authorities said.

"It was done very well - they were very skilled," said Mr Guido Geremia, head of the Palermo unit that led the investigation.

The financial police, which lead Italy's fight against counterfeiters who cash in on the peninsula's reputation for quality in everything from handbags to prosciutto, launched the Ferrari investigation six months ago.

Mr Geremia said they were helped by Internet sites where the cars were offered up for sale.

Ms Mengozzi said it is not the first time the Ferrari brand has been copied.

She said that the automaker, which is owned by the Fiat Group, monitors websites for evidence of fakes.

"Ferrari is a product that maintains its value over time and of course we try to protect our clients who buy the real thing," Ms Mengozzi said.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Mar 2, 2008.